Communicative Power(lessness). Democratic Ethics and the Role of Social Psychoanalysis for Melioristic Social Science
Journal
European Journal of Pragmatism and American Philosophy
ISSN
2036-4091
Type
journal article
Date Issued
2023-10-13
Author(s)
Editor(s)
Matteo Santarelli
Federico Lijoi
Valentina Petrolini
Abstract
This article aims to combine the strengths of Erich Fromm’s and John Dewey’s social philosophies. I argue that the merits of this comparison become particularly clear when the theories are outlined and compared in the following three steps. First, a social theoretical common ground of Dewey and Fromm will be illustrated. Their “World War genealogies” share the same defense mechanism as the major explanation of the Germans’ tendency to voluntary submission, which involves a strong feeling of powerlessness. Against this background, the next step elaborates the ethical side of their argument. Already the World War genealogies are written with melioristic intent, and especially later works (in case of both authors) elaborate the respective ethical theory as well as the ideas concerning melioristic social science and social psychology. These ethics aim at good communication (in a broad sense), while the melioristic social research focuses on the concrete manifestations of social character, allowing to empirically identify hindering and facilitating factors of social amelioration. Both can be linked using the concept of communicative power(lessness). By way of outlook, I will finally consider the combination of a democratic, communication-oriented ethics with qualitative sociopsychoanalytic research in Fromm’s sense as a straightforward and promising approach for an interdisciplinary social philosophy.
Language
English (United States)
Refereed
Yes
Volume
XV
Number
2
Start page
80
End page
97
Pages
18
Official URL
Contact Email Address
cedricbrau@gmail.com
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Braun2023_CommunicativePower(lessness).pdf
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